Hands
by Sparkly Faerie
Summary: A collection of oneshots. Number 3 - Comforting Hands: "I think she had it in for you." He announced. "I heard the way she was speaking to you." – "I'm your girlfriend. You're supposed to say that."
1. Coloured Hands

_**EDIT: July 9, 2011**_

**Hi everyone!**

**Initially this was meant to be just a oneshot, but I got inspiration two or three days ago for some more 'hand' themes. To that end, I'm re-opening this story and posting several more oneshots under this title. :D I don't know how many there will be, all in all, but I know the last one I want to put up, so I'll try to come up with as many themes as I can.**

**If you could review each oneshot one at a time I'd be much obliged. :D Each is a different story, there's no real continuity to them other than the fact that it only goes forward in time.**

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**And no, I'm not sure if mixing lemons with sunscreen would work. I would advise you _not_ to try it; I just heard somewhere that lemon juice was supposed to get rid of freckles, but neither of us have been game enough to try.**

**I know Sora isn't normally this bold, but I figure that this is like a year or two after KH2. So, they're like… 17 in this oneshot. In that time, Sora's gotten bolder. XD**

**So, I hope you enjoy it!**

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**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything associated with it. All rights to Kingdom Hearts and affiliated characters belong to Disney and Square Enix.

**Summary:** His hand was coloured a healthy nut-brown by the sun; Kairi's hand was white as a pearl and slightly translucent. "We're so different..." she murmured, holding up their clasped hands for him to see, "...doesn't that bother you?" "No. Should it?"

**Rating:** K

**Genre:** General/Romance

**Pairings: **SoKai

**World:** Destiny Islands, Two years post KH2

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**Coloured Hands**

Being a redhead, Kairi couldn't tan.

The closest that Kairi could ever get to a tan would be large clusters of freckles – and she'd waged a long war against the sun kisses that occasionally popped up and dusted her nose and cheeks. Lotions, citrus juices… you name it, Kairi'd tried it at least once. So far, she'd found that applying lemon juice, by mixing it with sunscreen, had the best effect; she didn't get freckles, and as an added bonus, she didn't get sunburn.

But, freckles notwithstanding, her skin hadn't been something that Kairi had ever given much thought. She usually shrugged off her milky pale skin, chalking it up to her heritage in the Radiant Garden; unlike Destiny Islands, where _everyone_ had a tan, the denizens of Radiant Garden had many different skin tones – if Leon and his friends were any indication, that is.

But one evening after school, while she and Sora were walking along the beach on the main island, she'd happened to catch a glimpse of their clasped hands in the light from the setting sun. His hand, rough and calloused from various island pastimes (and, of course, the year and a half that he'd spent fighting the heartless and Organization XIII), was coloured a healthy nut-brown by the sun; the colouring extended up his arm and disappeared into a tan line somewhere around his shoulder, under his shirt.

Kairi's hand, which (despite how careful she was and all the moisturising she did) bore its own share of scrapes and calluses, was white as a pearl and slightly translucent; she could faintly see the blue veins that weaved their way through her body under the milky membrane, which was glowing slightly with the reflected light. Frowning slightly at the contrast, she failed to hear Sora's question.

He halted their stroll and tugged on the hand that she was focusing on. "Kairi?" He used his free one to turn her chin to face him. "You okay?"

Kairi gave a small smile, the one she reserved for only him, and shook her head to clear it of her thoughts. "I'm fine." She assured him. "Just thinking."

"What about?"

Kairi shook her head again at the innocent question. "It's not important."

"If it put that look on your face," Sora persisted, his voice soft as a cloud and smooth as velvet, "then I want to hear it. What's bothering you?"

"Well… it's just…" Kairi paused, trying to put it into words. "We're so different..." she murmured, holding up their clasped hands for him to see, "...doesn't that bother you?" She asked.

"No." Was his very surprising answer. "Should it?"

For the first time in the conversation, Kairi managed to look him in the eye. "It… doesn't?" She blinked. "But…!"

Sora put a finger to her lips. "Kairi, I've been friends with a talking duck, dog, and a mouse King for the better part of the last three years." He patiently explained. "If you think that something as trivial as the colour of your skin is going to change how I feel about you," and here he lifted her pearly knuckles, grazing them softly against his lips, "then you're wrong, you silly girl."

Resuming their walk, Kairi couldn't help but bite her lip to hide her silly grin. He was right, she realised; something that was only skin deep shouldn't have affected her so much. He loved her for _her_; and she loved him for _him_ – not for what their appearances were.

They were silent for a moment, before Sora remarked, quite casually, "To be completely honest, your skin is one of the things I find most attractive about you. It's rather beautiful; you glow like an angel in the sun and shine like a pearl in the moonlight."

Being a redhead, Kairi couldn't tan.

But she sure could blush.

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**Like I said in the opening ANs; I know Sora isn't usually that bold, but it's two years after the game. I figure he'd be comfortable enough to say something like that by **_**now**_**, surely.**

**And ugh. I had a hell of a time trying to phrase that last bit of dialogue in a way that **_**didn't**_** make it sound perverted. 'Cause, we all know Sora ain't a butt-grabbin' monkey.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.**

**Feedback is appreciated.**

**Sparkly Faerie.**


	2. Warm Hands

**Hello everyone. It's been a while since I wrote a SoKai.**

**This one actually came into my mind as something almost completely different, but the way it ended up made me think of the old 'Hands' oneshot. It sort of fits within the same theme. So, I did a little re-vamping of the old oneshot so I could post a series of hand-themed oneshots. :D**

**I know, I'm weird.**

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**Disclaimer:**I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything associated with it. All rights to Kingdom Hearts and affiliated characters belong to Disney and Square Enix.

**Summary:** She really felt terrible about yelling at him, especially when he was only trying to be a good boyfriend. She'd bribe him later on to forgive her with ice cream.

**Rating:** T (loosely, caution for referring to the Facts of Life)

**Genre:** General/Romance

**Pairings:**SoKai

**World:** Destiny Islands, Two years post KH2

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**Warm Hands**

Kairi was in pain.

She knew Sora didn't know what was causing it – well, actually, from the face he had pulled that morning as she had gutsed down that Midol in homeroom, he seemed to have had a fair idea of what it was and obviously did _not_ want confirmation – but she knew it concerned him that she had decided to forego going to the island that afternoon. Kairi dearly loved the island, and the days she didn't visit it were very few and far between. In fact, when they were ten and she had fallen and broken her left arm, she had all but demanded that Riku row her to and from the island every day so she could spend the afternoons sitting on the curved paopu tree and drawing pictures in the sand with Selphie while the boys went swimming or roughhoused on the beach.

So the fact that she was not there that day irked him.

And she knew it.

But the fact of the matter was that Kairi had barely managed to make it to school that morning, and wanted nothing more than to curl up into the foetal position in front of the television with chocolate and a hot water bottle. So, she had sent her boyfriend and best friend off with a smile, telling them that she wasn't feeling well, but to have fun without her, and had proceeded to hobble home from school. Sora had offered to walk her home, but she had been in a bad mood all day and had snapped at him to leave her alone. So he had left, confused, hurt and unsettled, and she had felt terrible about it ever since.

She sniffled as the ending credits for _One Litre of Tears_ rolled across the screen; every other channel had some form of sport playing, and she wasn't really in the mood to watch teams of men fight over a silly little ball that Saturday. There was no real entertainment value in it without Sora and Riku around – who often bet between themselves as to who would win and would often get so wrapped up in ribbing each other (while Kairi retreated to the doorway to watch them from a safe distance) that they would forget the blitzball game entirely and fail to dish out winnings afterwards.

She frowned at the thought of Sora, wiping her face to remove any tears. She really felt terrible about yelling at him, especially when he was only trying to be a good boyfriend. She'd apologise as soon as she felt better and take him out for ice cream in town – she could always bribe him to forgive her with ice cream. He would kick up a stink that going out for ice cream was for little kids, but she knew that if she pouted enough she could get him to come with her. And he'd always liked going out for ice cream anyway, so making a fuss was usually for everyone else's benefit.

She whimpered as she stretched her legs. Her hot water bottle was mysteriously M.I.A. (she had a sneaking suspicion that her mother had taken it to the office with her, damn their synchronised uteruses) and all she had to relieve the pain was the heat generated by a simple blanket. Of course, she'd taken all the painkillers she could, but they'd yet to kick in. She didn't even have any chocolate! Her mother (she was noticing a theme here) had made the snap decision to put the whole family on a diet two weeks before, and had removed all non-healthy foods from the house.

Kairi, of course, had protested; her parents were plump – not _too_ fat, but not exactly thin, either. It was in their genes. She had argued that _she_ didn't need to go on a diet. _She_ could eat whatever she wanted and not gain a pound. But her mother had put her foot down, and Kairi was supposedly living on a diet of carrot sticks and lettuce leaves until further notice. What her mother didn't know, though, was that Kairi cheated every chance she got – she'd stolen food from Sora so many times those last two weeks that he'd just started to bring extra to school, she'd stopped off at a fast food place after school with the boys three or four times, bought more junk than she'd care to admit from the school cafeteria's vending machines and generally ended up throwing out the food that her mother served to her of a night time, and she would go up to her room and eat whatever she had smuggled into the house that afternoon. Her mother thought she was trying to make a statement by starving herself. Kairi just ignored whatever was put in front of her.

She may have been a Princess of Heart, but she was still just a teenager.

"Here you are, Miss." The housekeeper made to deposit a mug of warm milk tea onto the coffee table.

"Thanks, Haruna." Kairi winced as she uncurled herself and reached for the mug. Sparing the younger woman a sympathetic glance, the maid placed it in her hands instead before scurrying off to see to that night's salad.

Kairi sipped at the sweet tea, staring out at nothing in particular. She wanted to go to bed, but there was no one else there but Haruna to help her scale the stairs, and the housekeeper was already busy. She would have to wait for one of her parents to come home before she could go back upstairs. She checked the clock – two in the afternoon. There was an election coming up, so they'd likely be gone for another four hours _at least_. She groaned.

She laid back down after she'd finished her tea, hoping to get some sleep – it felt like the painkillers were finally kicking in. Those hopes were dashed, though, by the doorbell. Still, she pulled the blanket up over her head, praying that whoever it was that had come to call would take it to mean that she was asleep and would just go away.

She heard Haruna answer the door and speak with the visitor. They were too far away for Kairi to make out the voices, but she heard Haruna's laugh echo through the house. She heard the door close and breathed a sigh of relief – it seemed like whoever it was had gone.

After a few moments, she heard the soft padding of sock-clad feet approach her, and a rustling noise began above her head – she was determined to ignore it, but as the noise grew more insistent, she finally heaved an aggravated sigh and pulled the blanket down far enough to peek out at what it was that was making the sound. Her glare fixed itself on a plastic bag.

A plastic bag with _chocolate_ in it.

"I figured you'd be more likely to want to see me if I brought a peace offering." A masculine voice sounded. She could hear the laughter in it, but graciously ignored it in favour of swiping at the bag.

"So_ra_…" she growled as he lifted it out of her reach. She glared at his grinning face as he shrugged and dropped it into her lap.

"I remember you said your mother got rid of all yours, and I know mine likes chocolate when she's… _in pain_. So I figured you might—"

Kairi was already opening one of the bars, moving over on the couch. "Sit your butt down." She ordered. He obeyed. "Do you want something to drink? I can call Haruna back in."

"Nah, I had a soda on the way over." He shrugged. "How are you feeling?"

"My stomach feels like the dog that went a round with a bus and lost." She sighed, biting into the chocolate-and-caramel bar. "Mmm… God, this is good." She practically moaned.

Sora laughed a little, but didn't comment as she leaned against him. He shifted so that one of his legs was on the couch and one was on the floor, with Kairi between them. They only ever sat like that when her parents weren't around – they'd made that mistake with her mother only once, who had decided that it was the sweetest thing she'd ever seen and had proceeded to dig out the camera, and Sora was too terrified of her father after the time that he'd come into Kairi's room to see them sitting together on her bed, watching a movie, to even hold her hand in front of him. They had barely even been touching – she had been lying at the end and he had been sitting at the top, both with their eyes fixed on the television – but he had looked fit to kill Sora where he sat. So, they didn't show any intimacy, _at all_, in front of her father.

She leant against him gratefully, pulling the blanket up over them. He really was like a giant heating pad, helping to warm her aching back. He wrapped his arms around her. "Do I get any chocolate?" He asked, half-jokingly.

"No." She craned her head back to look at him and stuck her tongue out at him.

He rolled his eyes and feigned a hurt expression. "Geez, you're mean." He mock-sighed. "And here I went out of my way to get you chocolate _and_ visit you, _inside_, on a beautiful day, and I don't even get a lousy bar of chocolate." He joked, poking her in the forehead.

"How come you're not on the island?" She asked, popping the last bite of her chocolate treat into her mouth. "I thought you went with Riku."

"I did." He shrugged, looking away. "He and Wakka decided to play beach volleyball. They said I'm too _short_ to play," he frowned in irritation, "and Tidus and Selphie were making out by the spring. There was nothing to do there so I came back."

Kairi raised an eyebrow, unwrapping a block of chocolate this time. She broke off a row and handed it up to him. "Well, when I feel better," she broke off a second row for herself, "there can be ice cream. And Riku wont be invited."

"I like ice cream." He grinned around a mouthful of chocolate.

Kairi made a disgusted noise as she watched him chew. "Manners, much?"

He shrugged. "You love me."

She made a non-committal noise of agreement. "Aren't you lucky?"

She could feel him smiling as he kissed her temple. "I like to think I am."

She closed her eyes to better enjoy the feeling of his fingers tracing her face. She grinned as he tapped her nose lightly, enjoying the trails of gentle warmth that his fingers left in their wake.

His hands were _warm_.

She grabbed one of them away from her face and started picking at the velcro that kept his gloves closed. "What are you doing?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She asked sarcastically. "Glove. Off. Now."

"Why?" He nonetheless complied, freeing his hand from the fabric covering and allowing her access to his bare hand. He spluttered as, without warning, she moved his hand under the blanket. "Kairi, _what_—?"

"Oh, don't be a baby." She sighed as she rested his hand over the bare skin of the tender area of her stomach. "Your hand is warm. Heat is good for pain."

She could practically _feel_ his eye twitch. "Don't you have a hot water bottle…?"

"Mama stole it, I think." She sighed. "Mmm… that feels better." It wasn't as good as a hot water bottle, but it was still much warmer than anything else she could find around the house. She tilted her head back and cracked an eye open to look at him, and laughed at the stricken look on his face. "Relax, Sora. I don't really feel up to taking advantage of you right now." She winked playfully.

He frowned at her. "Are you _insane_?" He hissed. "What if your parents see—?"

"Sora," she explained tiredly, "it's election month. My parents are hardly home. The only one likely to see us is Haruna, and your hand is under the blanket. For all anyone else knows, we're holding hands." She tapped his hand lightly. "Please leave it there."

"Well…" he shifted a little, uncomfortable with the situation, "…okay. But only until your parents get home."

"Thanks."

"You owe me."

"Nuh-uh." She teased. "You love me. It's obligatory. You _have_ to take care of me when I'm not well."

"I want two ice creams."

She grinned. "Deal."

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_**EDIT July 10, 2011: **_Fixed a typo where 'his' should have been 'her'.

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**Poor Kairi. It sucks to be a girl sometimes. It really does. I've actually taken some of this from experience – I've spent the last few days warming my hands in front of the heater and putting them on my stomach because the pain has been so bad. :(**

**Anyway, please review. :D I posted a NamiKu the other week and I got no reviews for it, so I was quite disappointed. :(**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Sparkly Faerie**


	3. Comforting Hands

**EDIT - July 23, 2011: **I fixed a few typos and changed a little of the wording so that it flowed better. I also added crediting for a line that I didn't actually realise that I'd borrowed.

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**Does no one like this? This is the second upload I've made of it (the old one was taken down for editing) but even though the original was up for almost two weeks, no one reviewed.**

**I thrive on reviews, guys. I've been so distracted by worrying that this one wasn't any good that I haven't started the next one yet. :T Please leave a review telling me if you liked it. Or even if you thought it was crap, at least then I'd know what I was doing wrong.**

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**Disclaimer:**I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything associated with it. All rights to Kingdom Hearts and affiliated characters belong to Disney and Square Enix.

**Credit where credit is due:** I didn't actually realise this until just now, but I subconsciously borrowed the Neopolitan ice cream reference from Nessarie, who left it as a comment in a review _way_ back in January in response to the original '_Hands_' oneshot (now called '_Coloured Hands_'). Sorry about that Nessarie! But here, I credited you! :D

**Summary:** "I think she had it in for you." He announced. "I heard the way she was speaking to you." – "I'm your girlfriend. You're supposed to say that."

**Rating:** T (Kairi says a bad word)

**Genre:** Hurt/Comfort/Romance

**Pairings:**SoKai

**World: **Destiny Islands, Two and a half years post KH2

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**Comforting Hands**

Kairi wasn't used to failure. So as she followed the portly older woman back into the big grey office building, knowing (not '_thinking_'. _Knowing_) that she'd failed, she felt hot and cold all over and, honestly, a little sick. Still, she tried to be optimistic. Everyone always told her that she was her own harshest critic. Her mistakes _probably_ weren't as bad as she was making them out to be. She could still pass. She could.

She knew she wouldn't.

"Wait here in the lobby for a moment, while I calculate your score." The woman told her, shuffling back behind the counter.

Kairi sank into a vacant seat. She took a breath, running both hands over her face, pushing her hair back from her eyes. She could still feel the heat in her cheeks; she was sure her face was in splotchy patches of red and creamy-white and probably a little orange. Taking in another deep breath through her nose, she sighed and fished around in her pocket for her cell.

Finding it, she opened a blank message.

_I feel sick._

She pressed the '_send'_ button, sighed again, and looked up as she let the hand clutching the phone drop into her lap. The interior of the stuffy office building was just as drab and grey as the outside, packed to capacity with people her age, some slightly older, with small children, some people around her parents' age, some older. She massaged a temple to guard against a headache being brought on by half a dozen screaming kids. Her cell vibrated with a new message.

_R u bk?_

Kairi rolled her eyes. Was he seriously asking that question?

_Obviously, since I'm using my phone._

Her phone flashed once as she sent the reply. _Honestly_! She hadn't been _that_ stupid during the test. Anyone who did that during the test didn't even deserve to be taking it, let alone allowed to pass.

"Kairi?"

She stood and put her phone back in her pocket as she heard her name called, and approached the counter. The lady was shuffling some papers with a blank expression. She looked up at Kairi, then down at her papers as she started to lay them out in between them, facing them towards Kairi so that she could read them.

"Unfortunately, it's not a pass." She said, tapping a section on the paper with a finely manicured fingernail. "You had three fail items. You failed to…" Kairi zoned out, staring in horror at the scoresheet. She dimly registered what the woman was telling her, storing it away for when she could fully process the information without a mantra of _oh my God, oh my God, I failed! Oh my God I failed! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!_ circling her thoughts. "…I need you to sign here." She finally broke through the haze in Kairi's thoughts. "Just to prove that I've explained this to you." Kairi signed on the dotted line, trying not to look like she wanted to cry. "All right." The woman took the papers back, handing Kairi the score sheet, a small card and a square booklet. "Did you want to book again, or did you want to do it online?"

"I… I'll do it online." She managed to answer, swallowing a lump in her throat.

"Alright. Have a nice day!" The woman dismissed her, turning around to speak with one of her colleagues. Kairi took yet another deep breath to hold back the tears and looked back out over the sea of people. The din of their chatter made her head throb as she searched for a familiar face.

She spotted him coming in from the front doors, smiling a wide smile at her. She pursed her lips and shook her head at him as he approached. Starting off toward him, she saw his smile falter as he frowned in confusion at her gesture, and repeated it.

"I failed." She managed to tell him as he came close enough to hear.

"Oh." His smile faded completely as his face smoothed out in soft comprehension. "Come on." He jerked his head toward the back doors, where they were parked. "Let's get out of here." She sniffed, nodded, and started off toward the doors. She was past all the people crowding the building before the tears snuck up on her.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked softly as they walked out the doors and onto the zebra crossing in the parking lot. She nodded, her hands covering her face. "Don't be too upset. Lots of people fail on the first try."

"I'm never going to hear the end of this!" She finally managed to choke out, a few tears escaping and rolling down her face. "Especially from Riku! He'll never let me live it down! Even _he_ passed on the first try!"

"So we wont tell him." Sora decided. "We'll tell everyone that they screwed up your appointment and you had to rebook. You can do it at the one across town next month."

"What's the point?" She finally hiccupped. The tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her face. "We'd have to explain why I changed offices. I may as well tell everyone the truth."

"Fair enough." Sora sighed. "Hey," he tried to put an arm around her shoulders, "don't worry about it. You'll get it next time."

"Get off." She shrugged him off violently. "I just wanna get out of here." He tried to hug her. "Can we just get in the car?" She hissed as she shoved him away from her, slapping his hands when they reached for her a third time. "_Please_, Sora, I don't want to cry in the middle of the parking lot!"

He gave up. "Alright." He said softly. "Come on, we'll go to my place for a while, before you go home. Gimme the key."

She handed him the car key, dropping it into his outstretched palm before standing beside the passenger door. She opened it and slid into the seat as soon as he unlocked it, pulling the seatbelt across her body. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed; the car dipped a little as he got in the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition.

"Did she tell you what you did wrong?" He asked softly, pulling on his own seatbelt and starting the car.

She sniffed, wiping her cheeks before pulling her hands far enough away so that she could speak as he backed out of the parking space and started to pull out of the parking lot. "I—I hit the curb trying to reverse-park, and I forgot to put the car in Park and put on the hand break when doing a curb-side park. And apparently I missed a give-way, even though I swear I didn't, and—!" She buried her face in her hands again. "It was all stupid stuff! That I've done a million times before!" She wailed, her voice slightly muffled by her hands.

"Hey, it's okay." He said soothingly, turning the car onto the road. "Don't be too upset about it. It's just a driving test. You can try again."

"I'm not upset about _that_." She managed to answer, breathing heavily to try to arrest control of her tears again. "I'm just… disappointed. And everyone was all, like, '_you'll ace it_', and '_you'll have no problem!_'." She sighed, wiping her eyes again. "That's what makes it worse."

"I thought you weren't gone long enough to pass." He confessed.

"No, I did the whole course." She shook her head.

"Really?" She nodded. "Huh." He paused for a moment. "I didn't think you'd get it anyway—" he ignored her indignant spluttering, "—you already looked worried before you got into the car. You looked scared when she was going through the booklet."

Kairi looked at the items still in her hands – the little square booklet with her learning log, and her learner's permit. She slipped the card back into her purse. "Yeah." She admitted. "I was already going 'oh my God, oh my God, oh my God' before I started. And she was such a… a bitch!"

"I think she had it in for you." He announced. "I heard the way she was speaking to you at the counter when she was looking at your log book."

"I'm your girlfriend." She gave a watery giggle. "You're supposed to say that."

"No, I mean it." He said earnestly. "She was _rude_. I wouldn't have let her talk to _me_ like that. And Riku would probably have given her a black eye." He brightened up. "Hey! That's what we can do! Sic Riku on her!" She smiled at him, giving a weak chuckle. Sora quirked a small grin that she couldn't see. "We can go back there. I can ram her with the Keyblade, if you want."

Kairi made a sound between a hiccup and a giggle. "No. That's okay. I'll just practice more and try again."

"That's the spirit." He smiled, pulling into his driveway. "Come on, let's go inside. I'll make you a hot chocolate."

Kairi gave a genuine smile as he held the front door open for her, bending over to kiss the crown of her head as she passed. She shrugged out of her coat, grateful that his mother had forgotten to turn off the heating before she'd left for work – it was only mid-fall, but it was getting chillier by the day. Sora passed her, muttering something about milk; she followed, and caught sight of her reflection in a mirror in the hall. She frowned. Her face was, just as she'd predicted, all blotchy in various shades of cream and red, and her eyes were red-rimmed from her earlier tears. With her hair falling out of the messy bun she'd thrown it in that morning, she looked like a mess. She was lucky her make-up was waterproof!

"I look horrible." She announced, pulling the elastic out of her hair and letting it tumble down her back as she entered the kitchen, sitting on a stool and watching him potter about, looking for cups and the drinking cocoa powder.

He looked at her over his shoulder. "You look fine to me."

She gave him A Look. "My face looks like Neapolitan ice cream."'

"Without the chocolate." He reached over and tweaked her nose. She laughed as she made a swipe to grab his retreating hand, and missed. "And I love ice cream, remember?"

"That is _so_ corny." She rolled her eyes, the gesture at odds with the big smile on her face.

"And yet," he pulled two mugs out of the cupboard with a flourish, "here you are. With me. And my corniness."

She mock-sighed. "Alas, why must my heart be set on the likes of such a foolish individual?" She asked dramatically, grinning at his mock-hurt expression as he clutched at his heart.

"My love, I shall have you know I am quite sensible!" He cried. He then pretended to have a spark of realization. "Say it isn't so! Say there isn't another!"

She burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. "Of course not, you great lug." She reached over and patted him on the head. "I only have eyes for you." She settled back in her seat.

"Well, that's a comforting thought." He smiled, turning back to finish preparing the hot chocolate.

She rested her arms on the island bench, frowning. "Hey, Sora? How come this thing is vibrating?"

He placed a steaming mug in front of her. "It's not." He said softly, taking her hands in his. "You're trembling."

With her small ones cradled in his large, warm, rock-steady hands, she realized that he was right. She felt the tears that he'd been keeping at bay sneak back up on her and sting her nose. "Right." She took her hands from his and wrapped them around her mug, warming her cool fingers. She lifted the hot mug, careful not to spill any and burn herself as she sipped at it. "Hey, Sora? Can I stay here for a while?"

He must have heard the tears back in her voice. "Sure." He moved around the island and took the stool next to her. She murmured a soft thanks before he gently took her mug from her hands and placed it next to his on the counter in front of them. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and this time, she didn't shake him off; instead, she gripped at his shirt and he turned so that he was forced to stand to hold onto her, wrapping his arms around her properly and using his hands to rub small circles on her back, his lips on her hair. From her seat on the stool, she buried her face into his chest and desperately tried not to cry too loudly.

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**It's really starting to look like I have a thing for making Kairi suffer… I don't! I swear, I don't. It's just… the way these particular ones work. And it's meant to be fluff; what's fluffier than an adorable boy looking after his crying girlfriend, I ask you? Nothing. That's what.**

**But I will try to ease up on the Kairi-torture next time.**

**Anyway, please review. :D Like I said before, I only got 1 review last time, so I was quite disappointed. :( I'd like to hear from more of you!**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Sparkly Faerie**


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